KMFDM: “Ganja Rock” (UAIOE, Wax Trax! 1989)

In my younger industrial music listening days, I was a big Wax Trax! enthusiast, even as I more or less missed the boat on it all; TVT had just bought them only selectively reissued their catalogue. KMFDM was one of those acts that I really liked at the time, even their silly name-chanting and metal riffs that was so en vogue in the early to mid-nineties. UAIOE was an album I picked up after the fact, and, considering just how different it is from Naïve, its follow-up by only a year, its uniqueness was lost on me at the time. With portions produced by Adrian Sherwood and featuring a different lineup from any other KMFDM album (focusing on vocals from one-time reggae singer Morgan Adjei with additional help from drummer Rudolph Naomi alongside mainstays Sascha Konietzko and En Esch), it’s a curious blend of mid 80s electronic clatter and dub, with raw enough edges to fit into their discography but a distinctly different vibe on several tracks. “Ganja Rock” is such a case, the most reggae and dub-influenced cut.